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US stock futures slump, oil jumps after Iranian media reports explosions on Kharg Island

Stocks returned to negative territory in premarket trading and oil futures jumped after Iranian state-sponsored media said that explosions were heard on Kharg Island.

The Mehr News agency, which reported this at 6:25 a.m ET, did not comment on the source of these explosions. Fox News reported that the US targeted military installations targeted military installations, and unintentionally hit a landing dock. Axios also reported that the strikes were intended to hit military targets, citing a US official.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF turned from slightly positive to down about 0.5% in the wake of this report, and extended losses after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that “A whole civilization will die tonight.”

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures traded about 3% higher to $116 after having previously been roughly flat.

Trump’s Tuesday morning post seemingly reaffirms his commitment to escalate attacks on Iran, including targets that can be considered war crimes, if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. His current deadline, which has previously been pushed back on multiple occasions, is 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

On Sunday, the president’s Truth Social account posted that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

Kharg Island handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude exports. Strikes that reduce Iran’s ability to ship oil would further disrupt energy markets, which have been roiled by the war and limited the movement of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint. Initial US attacks on Kharg Island in March were said to have hit military sites rather than energy infrastructure.

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Claire Yubin Oh4h

Universal Music jumps on Pershing Square’s $64 billion merger proposal

Universal Music Group ADRs rose 11% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital offered a deal to combine the world’s largest music company with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the resulting new company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The proposed transaction purportedly values UMG at a 78% premium to its last closing price, with shareholders receiving €5.05 per share in cash, plus 0.77 shares of the new company for each share of Universal Music held, per Pershing Square’s statement released on Tuesday. Together, the offer estimates UMG to be worth €30.40 per share, or €50 billion ($64 billion) as a whole.

Proposing a corporate shake-up for the record label, Ackman said, “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.” According to Pershing Square, those issues include an underutilization of UMG’s balance sheet, uncertainty over what the Bolloré group will do with their 18% stake in the company, and a delay in the US listing of the business. UMG’s shares have slumped more than 30% in the last six months before this morning’s jump.

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Broadcom jumps after locking down Google as a customer for future generations of TPUs

Shares of Broadcom rose more than 3% in postmarket trading on Monday after its most important customer doubled down on the custom chip specialist’s ability to produce its most valuable commodity.

In a filing, Broadcom said that it entered into a long-term agreement with Google to supply future generations of TPUs (custom AI accelerator chips) as well as a supply assurance agreement for networking and other equipment “through up to 2031.”

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon indicated that Broadcom’s investor relations team told him that Google’s long-term agreement “has revenue commitments that go along with it through the timeline.”

Gemini 3 launched to rave reviews in November. The model was trained on TPUs co-developed by Broadcom and Google.

The same Monday filing showed that Broadcom, Google, and Anthropic expanded a partnership that will see the Claude developer access 3.5 gigawatts of AI compute capacity beginning in 2027, powered by the TPUs co-designed by the custom chip specialist and the search giant.

Bernstein’s Rasgon added that Broadcom’s team suggested these 3.5 gigawatts are “only part of a larger partnership over time.” He thinks Broadcom’s fiscal year 2027 guidance for AI revenues of $100 billion “is looking increasingly light” thanks to this news.

For what it’s worth, the enhanced pact with Anthropic hinges upon the firm’s ability to afford AI compute. But based on the insane trajectory of its run-rate revenue that may not be a big hurdle to clear.

“Broadcom’s expanded agreements with Google and Anthropic add rare multi-year visibility, reinforcing a $40-$50 billion AI revenue opportunity tied to Anthropic’s 3.5 gigawatt deployment starting in 2027, while building on the previously disclosed 1GW ($10 billion) starting in 2H,” wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kunjan Sobhani and Oscar Hernandez Tejada.

Anthropic boasts revenue run rate of $30 billion as the Claude developer expands its partnership with Google and Broadcom

Anthropic’s revenue run rate is higher than the trailing 12-month revenues of all but 129 S&P 500 companies.

Anthropic Co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei

markets

Health insurers surge after Medicare agrees to pay 2.48% more in 2027, a bigger-than-expected boost

Health insurance stocks are surging after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it plans to boost Medicare Advantage and Part D payments by 2.48% in calendar year 2027.

The likes of CVS, Humana, UnitedHealth, Molina Healthcare, Oscar Health, and Elevance Health are gaining in postmarket trading.

Wall Street analysts had anticipated that rates for 2027 would go up between roughly 1% and 1.5%.

These stocks had gotten crushed in late January when the Trump administration proposed relatively flat federal payment rates.

Insurance companies that provide government-sponsored plans, like Medicare Advantage, faced headwinds from higher-than-expected costs in 2025.

Luke Kawa, Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks maintain gains after whipsawing as traders digest war updates

Stocks rose for the fourth consecutive session as traders vacillated between hopes for a ceasefire and fears of an escalation.

Bull kicks

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